By Steve Choate, business development manager, for the Tradition of Giving blog series
Sometimes I forget that in the seemingly prosperous Milwaukee suburbs, poverty can exist right under my nose. There are people living in the surrounding areas barely making ends meet. Thankfully, there are organizations that have answered the call. Sussex Outreach Services (SOS) is one such organization.
When HRG gave its employees the chance to choose organizations to support this year through our tradition of giving back, I knew SOS was just who I wanted to support.
SOS is the social ministry arm of the Cooperating Churches of Sussex (CCOS) which helps people in the community with obtaining food, clothing, counseling, educational training, preventive health programming, and referrals. They serve all families and individuals in the Hamilton School District, which includes Sussex, the Town of Lisbon, Lannon, and parts of Merton, Butler, and Menomonee Falls, neighboring towns to Waukesha, home of the HRG offices.
I found out about SOS through my church who supports the organization on a regular basis. It was not difficult to convince my department that this one a good organization to support. After all, they serve an average of 303 families a month, and we knew our donation of goods and funds would stretch a long way.
Over all we were above to provide $300 to support Sussex Outreach Services in the form of groceries and gift cards. I am thankful that HRG gave us the chance to support organizations we believe in, and I encourage you to talk to your company about formalizing the giving process. A little extra money from a whole group of caring people can go a long way to make a big impact for a charitable organization.